Two forearms with solid black blackwork fields and a white line mandala tattoo on each, shown against a dark background.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Blackwork mandala on both forearms

Blackwork · Forearm · Black and grey · Photo

Two forearms are shown with large areas of solid black ink framing a white linework mandala on each arm. The radial design has layered petals, rings and pointed tips, and the mirrored placement on both arms gives a symmetrical composition. The image is black and white only, with the hand relaxed at the bottom of the frame against a dark backdrop.

Blackwork Geometric Forearm Mandala Radial pattern Petal Ring Floral pattern

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A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Marguerite,

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The lamps along the canal were all lit when I got off the last tram, and I walked the long way round past the locks so I could decide what to tell you. The clockmaker's shutters were down. Someone had chalked a sun on the wall beside his door, with rays going in every direction, and rain had already softened half of them. I stood there longer than a sane person should, trying to count the rays before the wet took them.

You will want to know about the mosaic. The baker's widow let me into the back room of the chapel yesterday, and under the dust there is a circle of blue glass laid in the floor, sixteen petals deep, each ring a little smaller than the one before, until everything draws in to a single pale stone. She says the builders worked from the centre outwards so the pattern would never lose its place. I photographed it on my phone with the flash off, which I know is useless, but I wanted something to show you that wasn't just my word.

I am sending this by the night post so it reaches you before the funeral. Bring the grey coat. The stone in the middle is cracked, and I think we should leave it cracked. Some things are truer when you can see where they were mended.

Yours, as ever, Jules